The use of polyacrylamide-based peptide synthesis resins for the generation of antipeptide antibodies

Antibodies directed against specific amino acid sequences can serve as probes for the protein molecules from which the sequence was derived, as well as affinity purification reagents. One of the major uses of synthetic peptides is for the production of such antibodies. Typically, antigens for this purpose are prepared by coupling the peptide to a macromolecular carrier such as bovine serum albumin or keyhole limpet hemocyanin. The steps for this process are peptide synthesis, peptide purification or desalting, coupling to the carrier protein, and purifying the peptide-protein conjugate. Techniques have emerged in which the amino acid sequence of interest is synthesized on a solid support using a noncleavable linkage and the resulting peptidyl-resin is injected into animals to elicit the antipeptide immune response. These procedures reduce the number of steps required to prepare the peptidyl-antigen. Water-compatible resins based on polyacrylamide have been utilized for this purpose. In this paper the composition of these supports and their use in the generation of antipeptide antibodies is reviewed.